Many Western agencies have created a presence on social media in recent years. Now, China’s state security agency (CSS) has issued its first ever social media post. However, where Western agencies try and portray themselves in a very PR friendly way, the Chinese approach is far more sombre and threatening: …
2) Show that you are a “people hacker.” The essential work of an intelligence officer is to recruit sources i.e. to persuade other people to give their secrets to you. So, one of the skills you will need to show is an understanding of human psychology and how to use …
Western intelligence agencies rarely use blackmail as a way of forcing people to become intelligence sources (agents). This is not because they are more moral than other services but because blackmail tends to produce agents who are reluctant, work poorly and who can be easily turned by the enemy if …
The French intelligence service has moved against a Russian operation aimed at stealing Western technology. They had been watching a company named Ommic and this week arrested executives of the company together with the businessman who had majority control of the shares. Interstingly, that businessman was not Russian as you …
The UK intelligence agencies (GCHQ, MI6 and MI5) are campaigning for greater powers for themselves as they seek to ease the safeguards that control their access to people’s personal data. In 2016, the UK Parliament introduced legal safeguards after the Edward Snowden revealed that the intelligence agencies were using their …